ALBERTA — The military knew a grass fire was burning at CFB Wainwright for several hours before it turned on a training area on Saturday and killed four members of the Canadian Armed Forces, a commander said on Sunday. Thirty-nine others were taken to hospital, 19 of them in critical condition.
Maj.-Gen. L.W. Rutland told reporters that the fire ignited in the training area at around 4 p.m. local time, while soldiers were taking part in exercises ahead of a deployment to Latvia, and that officials at the base were aware of it for several hours, according to CTV News. TEH’s earlier report on the CFB Wainwright fire had no toll and no cause to give.
What matters is the order of events. Rutland said “uncommonly strong winds” made the fire spread rapidly and shift toward an administrative area at the training range. “The fire was a kilometre away when the wind shifted. It is not normal for a fire to move a kilometre in 30 to 60 seconds,” he said. No account TEH read says who decided that exercises could go on while the Canadian Armed Forces watched the fire.
Dr. Sayeh Zielke, chief executive of Acute Care Alberta, said 19 patients are critical, eight stable and 12 ambulatory, CTV News reported. The same report said the soldiers carried on with their exercises despite the officials’ knowledge of the fire. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the patients were moved to four hospitals in the province.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney called it one of the worst tragedies for the armed forces on Canadian soil in peacetime and said flags on federal buildings would fly at half-mast, Anadolu Agency reported. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating, the agency said, with military and civilian authorities coordinating the response. The deaths come a day before Albertans vote on the Alberta referendum questions.
CTV reported that the fire is not believed to be the result of oil and gas infrastructure or outside interference, and that its cause is still under investigation. NATO’s Military Committee chair offered condolences on X early Sunday.
Some timings and terms still do not line up. Anadolu Agency, citing the Canadian Armed Forces, put the first report of the fire at around 4 p.m. local time on a training range, which does not obviously match a fire known for hours. Some outlets describe an explosion, while Rutland spoke of a grass fire, and none of the accounts TEH read says whether anything on the range played a part. Who decided that training could go on beside a fire the base had known about for hours?
